Domain name registrars must focus on security and price: Survey

Domain name registrars must offer strong security and price to attract clients.

There are some questions I’ve asked on the Reglike Survey over the past ten years that have predictable answers year following year.

One of these is “Rank the importance of these items when choosing a domain registrar.”

Just regarding every year, security and price are the top two. That was the case again in 2015.

The weighted score for these two factors was essentially a statistical dead heat for the most notable factor when selecting a domain name registrar.

The next two factors are also regarding the same — account management tools and client service. Still, account management tools received more #1 rank votes than client service.

Here’s a complete ranking:

1. Security
1. Price
3. Account Management Tools
3. Client Service
5. Easy of intra-registrar transfers
6. Availability of desired top level domains
7. Value added services
7. How they handle expired domains

This makes intuitive sense to me. I’m not going to touch a registrar with high prices, nor one that doesn’t offer two-factor authentication or that has a history of theft. Following clearing these two hurdles, I’m going to walk away if I can’t figure out the user interface. Next, I’d be concerned if the client service is weak.

70% of survey-takers stated they keep at least 80% of their domains at a single registrar.

Domain name registrars that are doing well ought to not rest on their laurels. 44% stated they are considering trying a fresh domain name registrar in 2015.